Desert Threads

Wonderful holidays

2012-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

This had to be my best Christmas ever. Mari and the girls came in from St. Stewart Georgia, Nancy came in from Arizona and Joe and the kids were here. Couldn't ask for better than that. But Santa (John) got me an EQ7 (way more than the 5) and the electric griddle that I've been wanting forever. I think we have used it every day since Christmas.

Went to a new dentist (Dr.'s Tom and Kevin Wheeler)(father and son tag team) The last dentist I went to, I hated. Seemed every time I went there, he tried to hurt me somehow and I really don't think his was the best work.
Because of so much bone loss, we have decided to pull the rest of the top teeth and replace them and pull the bottom 2 front and put in a partial. It will take a lot of getting used to but I'll be much happier in the long run. I LOVE MY NEW DENTISTS!!

Still working on a customer quilt that's been on the frame for almost a week now. I don't know what's wrong with me, I just can't seem to stick to anything. I pray that it will pass.

Here is a pic of my 16 month old beautiful great granddaughter, Lydia Grace Allen. She is such a joy!

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

Wishing all my friends a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Lavender Quilts is having a birthday give-away. The reason for her give-away is her birthday is December 27. Check it out. I know exactly about having a birthday so close to any other holiday because mine is New Years Eve.

http://thequiltinggarden.blogspot.com/

Another rescue

2011-12-06T09:52:00.001-08:00

This is a 2 year old Chaweenie that was abandoned by his owners when they moved away. I hate people that are so cruel. I am naming him Tyton. He is getting along with Bear really well. They tried to run themselves ragged so far this morning. He has a good home now tho.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Carla Barrett's new class and giveaway

2011-12-05T12:24:00.000-08:00

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com

Carla is a fabulous quilter, designer.....and most everything else there is. I have always loved her work.
She is offering a new Quilt Whisperer class starting January 9, 2012. It's a creative class on quilting designs for all levels of quilters. A must have for either beginners or professional quilters.
Check out her blog.

New puppy

2011-10-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is my 13 week old Shih Tzu named Bear. He is having a ball catching the leaves as they blow across the yard. But the wind is strong today due to an incoming storm and it's scaring him when it goes through the trees.
He is such a good boy......almost. He usually lets me know when he has to go outside, he can bring his ball to me to roll it for him and he sleeps through the night without making a mess.

As you can see, our trees are starting to drop a lot of leaves that I will have to rake up pretty soon.

I also make and sell quilts and now knit stitch markers. I have made some simple ones that have 2 to a card for $1 and pretty glass beaded ones that are 1 for $1.98.
If anyone is interested in any of them, let me know your color preference for the glass bead ones.
They would make a great Christmas gift along with a pattern, yarn and needles for someone that you know that knits.

I hope everyone has a great week.

More charity quilts

2011-09-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

Last time I went to guild (Dogwood Quilters) up at Lake Arrowhead, I gave them 10 quilts for CPS (child protective services). Sometimes kids have to be taken from their homes for their safety. Either from domestic violence, abuse or drugs. Sometimes they leave with nothing but the clothes they have on and sometimes naked. They are each given a quilt (as we can produce them). Something to hold onto.
I just finished putting the binding on the 5th quilt for this month and still have 2 more to quilt. And I still have a lot of fabric to use up.
I am also busy with customer quilts. And yes, I do have time to sleep.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Be safe!

My mom

2011-05-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is a pic of my mom taken sometime in the 1960's. She was a beautiful woman but I never really knew her. She was a very busy woman. Having 7 children, cooking, cleaning, feeding field hands in the summers. We grew up on a large farm just outside Mogadore, Ohio. But she took her own life on March 15, 1969. I miss her more and more every day. It's too bad that my kids never got to know their grandmother. Happy Mothers Day mom!

My son wished me happy Mothers Day as he walked out the door for work at 5:30 this morning. Then my daughters, Mari and Nancy called. Plus I had my grand babies since yesterday so it was a very good day.

Bad Blogger!!

2011-04-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know. Not a whole lot happening tho.

Get to have the grands on Saturdays now. At least we don't have to pay for supervised visits for 2 hours a week now. It is so much fun to have them here. I really miss them.

Here is a pic of beautiful 11 year old Jessica when she fell asleep in her daddy's lap. Priceless!

On the quilting front. I got 4 quilts in from another town and they were all custom. I am on the last row of the last one now. The drunkards path was all appliqued circles hand stitched to squares then cut into quarters. Beautifully done!!

Here is a close up of the 10 1/2" inner border detail.

This would make a great take-along project.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Another UFO is done

2011-03-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yep, #4 is now done. Took the leftover bindings, sewed them together and used them for this quilt. I always save whatever bindings. Never really knew why till I finished this crazy quilt. I think I will do this more often.
Now I want to make another one in all blues and yellows. I love crazy quilts. May add a little lace and what not to the next one. I now have enough quilts for the 2 twin beds we now have but if we get our grandkids, that will mean more beds so more quilts.

I also have plans on making a black and white one with tiny touches of reds.
Still working on the quilts I designed for my books. I have to find a background fabric for the latest one and I have a couple I need to get quilted. I wish I could stay on track better and not so much time on the computer!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

More quilts from my stash

2011-02-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Of many! I cleaned them up yesterday and found I have 18 quilts for sale, not to mention the several table runners.

This one is an original called Xcellent. It is made with all batiks and a poly batting for softness and drapability.

This one is another original called Hidden Diamonds. All 100% cotton with a poly batting.

I also have patterns available for these two for people that want to make their own.

I hope everyone has a great week.

More baby quilts

2011-02-11T14:24:00.001-08:00

So far, 4 of the baby quilts have been spoken for. The heart/butterfly, both the satin and the stars and moons. I will post another one I have available. This is done in all 1930's repro fabrics with a green inner border. I have 2 more available but have to quilt them. One has a pink inner border, the other blue with print outer borders.

More hand made quilts

2011-02-11T08:21:00.001-08:00

I got all my stuff back from a shabby chic shop that opened....then closed..... in town. Now I have all this other stuff sitting here.
These are all baby quilts.

This is one I designed with soft blue, pink and a butterfly fabric.

This is also one I designed with all cowboy fabric with the focal being Hopalong Cassidy.

Here is a flannel backed satin front with a mottled yellow flannel backing with a giraffe and bear on the front with crosshatching.

I also have this one is a soft mint with a mottled green flannel backing.

This is another one I designed with stars and moons.

This is a sailboat quilt.
I promise this enough for now.
If anyone is interested, I will give a 50% off the listed price on any of these quilts.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

The grands

2011-02-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

Got to see my grandbabies Sunday evening for 2 hours. It was so great so spend time with them. We hadn't seen them since before Christmas. It was a supervised visit and the lady said it went excellent. Now we will get to see them every other Sunday for 2 hours. Next time it won't be at the mall. There is nothing to do there but BUY stuff they don't need. Like candy.

I'm on the last row of the ugly basket quilt. Actually, it's not really ugly but it's boring. I prefer scrappy quilts. It's taking me so long to do it because I don't care for it and it's hard for me to get excited about something I don't like.
I will give it to a niece for her new bedroom. I even made a matching pillow case for it.
Here is a picture before I started the quilting......a week ago.

I hope everyone has a great week.

More hand made quilts for sale

2011-01-28T09:20:00.001-08:00

This quilt is 60" x 72" and called 4 Patch 9 from quilterscache.com.
All 100% cottons with a poly batting.

This is Strip Twist from quiltville.com. It is 58 1/2" x 73".

Yesterday in court, my son was awarded court ordered visitation of his 3 kids. He hasn't seen them since the parted ways on December 20th. It's a step in the right direction.
His attorney also served her with divorce papers. He is asking for full custody of the kids, child support and spousal support. I pray he gets it. We need to keep the kids safe.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Quilts I have for sale

2011-01-25T08:31:00.001-08:00

These are just a few of the quilts I have for sale. I will be adding more each day. Maybe even a few patterns that I designed.

This one is an original design wall quilt or lap quilt, all batiks.

This is a lap or couch quilt done in the Rail Fence pattern in all soft romantic fabrics.

If anyone is interested in sizes or prices, please leave a comment with your email address or send a message to
sharonspingler@yahoo.com and I will be happy to send more pictures and information.

I hope everyone has a great week.

UFO's

2011-01-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

I have set a goal for myself this year to do at least one UFO (unfinished object) per month.
Every morning, before the sun comes up, I work on as many blocks for my crazy quilt as I can get done before I start quilting. I decided to make the blocks finished size 10". It's easier for me to figure out how many I need if I keep the measurements simple. So far I have 6 blocks by 7 rows done plus 4. Well on my way to the 81 blocks I need for a queen size quilt. I plan on a narrow black border then a scrappy outer border. I should be working on that as I go. I'm using cheap muslin for the foundation blocks.

Here is what I have so far.
I bought bags of scraps (one gallon bags) from our quilt guild Sew What table for 25 to 50 cents each and I have enough for a couple large quilts. I also want to make one in all black, gray, with a tiny touch of red.
I've always wanted a crazy quilt and I've taught a class but never made one for myself. Well now's the time to finish it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm off to Road2Calif Saturday then to M & L for some new stuff for the books we are writing.
I love road trips!

I'm on a roll now!

2011-01-14T11:38:00.001-08:00

One UFO (unfinished object) done and another top finished. Boy Howdy I'm on a roll now!
The blue quilt is one I started in August and just finished up last week. The ugly pink/maroon basket quilt is one I started a couple weeks ago and just finished this morning.

My son's wife took off with the kids on December 20th and moved back in with us.(yeah I know, just before Christmas) and got a restraining order against him. It's killing him that he can't see his kids.
Anyhow, I had made comforters for the twin beds but he is 6'2" so I needed to make bigger quilts. The blue one (Boxy Stars by Bonnie Hunter) is one I started for a friend but decided to make something different so I finished it for him. It's plenty big enough for him. I made the basket quilt for the other bed and finished it up this morning. I used some of the bonus HST (half square triangles) in the corner of the border. I hated to make them and do nothing with them.

I took over the job as BOM (block of the month) coordinator for our quilt guild so I have planned on making the first BOM the basket quilt. I'm not happy with the one I made.....it's kinda plain and ugly. I think I will like it better done scrappy.

You know, the more I look at the Basket quilt, the more I dislike it.
Oh well, it will keep the kids warm.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

New nephew/ and wife

2010-10-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

My brother Joey Gavilan Jarvis was born Feb 1954 and was killed in 1973.
He had a son he named Joey Ryan in 1969 or 70. I got a message from Joey Ryan's wife, Amy, on facebook yesterday. Whoo Hoo!!! I am a very happy person to finally know about him. He favors his daddy so much. I can't wait to get to know them better. Family is a very important part of who I am.
Here is a picture of the handsome couple.

I may be wrong, but that small picture on the way may be my brother Joey. He was a handsome little dickens too.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Summer Star Sampler done

2010-10-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

I love this little quilt. It's a pattern from the apqs site. The focal fabric was a set of kitchen curtains I got from the thrift shop. I fell in love with the fabric but didn't need any more curtains so I took them apart and put the fabric away till I found something I could use it on. This pattern was perfect for it.

Need ideas for a Hole in the Barn Door

2010-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

I belong to a couple longarm quilt groups and I very rarely have to ask for help but when I do it's because I truly can't come up with any good ideas.
I asked for help on this one, the customer wants high end custom and my mind is a total blank. If anyone that reads my blog has any ideas, I would appreciate them.

It would be nice if once in a while I
got an idea from someone. Which is
rather rare.

Fabric giveaway

2010-09-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

http://thelastpiece.typepad.com/the_last_piece/2010/09/a-little-things-giveaway.html

Sarah Fielke at thelastpiece is having a giveaway of her new fabric line, Little Things, and I am telling you it is absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you check her out.

New bed

2010-09-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

6 years ago we paid $2000 for a piece of crap Comfort Systems bed. Yesterday we went and bought a pillow top mattress. I think we both had the best nights sleep in 6 years. No achy back, knees, or shoulders. Never could get it to the right firmness. Thursday night, every 2 hours it had to be pumped back up. At one point it was down to 5! Might as well have slept on the floor.

I did get the twin quilt done for Kalina, even a matching pillow case. Still have a long way to go on Chastity's queen size quilt. I decided to make the Boxy Stars quilt from Bonnie Hunter's quiltville site. And it's all in blues.

My daughter, Nancy, has decided to get married again. We do want to spend some time with this young man to get to know him better. He needs to meet all us to find out what he's getting himself into. He may turn tail and run.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Blog follower

2010-09-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

I started following repurposed blogs and check them every day to see what kinds of neat things people are doing with old stuff. I've been doing it for years myself but I love seeing what other people are creating.
I also follow confessions of a curb shopaholic and snowman hill and a lot of others.

Bad blogger!!

2010-09-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, I'm a really bad blogger! No excuses.

The 14th of August, I picked up my daughter in Arizona and we drove out to Ft. Benning, Georgia for the birth of my first great granddaughter, Lydia Grace Allen, born Aug 13th at 2:40 am. We got there on Sunday afternoon right after my granddaughter, Heather, came home from the hospital.
On Friday, I got to pin Mari's captains bars on her at a ceremony at the hospital. I can't tell you how proud I am of her and everything she has accomplished in her life.
We stayed for a week then went up to Chattanooga to a thread warehouse I love. I found them on ebay and have bought tons of threads and other stuff from them.
Then a quick stop in Nashville at a friends house. I say quick because we were really anxious to get back on the road to home. We made it back to my daughter's on Tuesday and I spent the
night there then headed home Wednesday morning.
We have concluded that we will NEVER drive it again. We will fly next time.

This morning I finally finished the quilting on my Drunkard's Path quilt. I really love how it turned out. Now for the dreaded binding. Have I ever mentioned that I really hate doing bindings? Well I do.

BOM quilt

2010-08-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

http://quiltcetera.wordpress.com/

Bradie Sparrow from APQS is having a BOM( Or actually 2 blocks a week) on her blog.
I saw the print (curtains) in the thrift shop and just had to get them. I took them apart and put them in my stash till I could figure out what to do with them. When I saw Bradie's quilt, I knew why I had been saving them.
Here is a pic of what I have so far. I am loving it. Can't wait to see it finished.

Starting to think about what I'm taking on my trip. I go to my daughter, Nancy's, house in Arizona on Sunday so we can leave first thing (and she WILL get up when I tell her to) Monday morning. Heading to Ft. Benning Georgia for the birth of my first greatgrand, Lydia Grace Allen. We may drive straight through but it all depends on how we feel at any given moment. After that, we will head to Chattanooga so I can load up on thread from Southern Threads, then to Nashville to visit my friend, Faye. Then to Clarksville to see my niece that I haven't seen in over 20 years, then head on home with a little sight seeing along the way.

I hope everyone has a great week.

New quilt

2010-07-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

I traded my guest queen size bed for my daughter's 2 twins. I had NO twin sized quilts. Well, guess I better make some!!
This is the first one. I started the redwork butterflies a couple years ago while I was visiting my oldest daughter and had to have something to keep my hands and my mind occupied. I had intended to make myself a queen sized quilt but since this came along, I decided to make at least one twin. If I can find the rest of the butterflies, I may make another one for matching quilts.
I screwed up and cut the muslin for the butterflies at 11 1/2" instead of the 12 1/2" that I should have. So I had to draft out the secondary block which was easy. The corners were a problem tho. How to finish them???? This is the process I took for the finale draft.
If I had made one large triangle in muslin, it would have been empty. I knew I wanted to keep with the 4 patch idea that I used in the secondary blocks and filler triangles. Adding a strip
muslin to the edges still wasn't right so I added the other red square and I like it much better.

Now to put the corners on, a narrow red border then a wider muslin border and quilt it.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Rain!!

2010-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Boy did we get rain today!!

This pic is of my at entrance to the front of the house.

This pic is at the front door looking to the right of my yard.

This pic is looking out my back door at the left side of my back yard.

And this one is the right side of my back yard. This was all from about 15 minutes of rain. We usually average only 7" per year. I think we got at least half that in one hour. The temp went from 101.6 to 79 in half an hour.
At least I didn't have to water the plants today.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

It's been a busy week

2010-06-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is what I've gotten done this week. There is a new consignment shop in town called Shabby Confections and they approached me about making stuff for the shop. So this is what I'm taking in this week for sale.

Other than that, not much going on around the home front.
Haven't had any customer quilts to do so I've been designing quilts and hopefully I can get a book out by the first of the year.
My friend, Faye, sent me the EQ5 program and I've been designing like crazy. I design a lot faster than I can get the quilts made. I think I may have to ask for help on that. Anyone want to volunteer to make a quilt?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I love giveaways!!

2010-05-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.piecefulkwilter.blogspot.com/

My friend Shannon has a giveaway........don't know what......over on her blog, check it out.

Prayers needed for my son. He is 31 and last night at work he got sick so the guy he works with took him next door to the fire department and they rushed him by ambulance to the nearest hospital (personally I would have walked the extra mile to the other one). He has arterial fib.
His heart rate was over 260 but all other vital signs were normal. He was put in a semi private room today and we are still waiting to see what they do to control it. I know the first thing they are going to tell him is to drop at least 100 pounds. He is 6'2" and pushing hard on 300 pounds.
I know he will be ok once they figure out what meds to put him on but it's the waiting that is making me a crazy person. And I can't concentrate on anything and I'm eating like a horse.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Another day

2010-05-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter in laws 29th birthday. Happy Birthday Lisa, we love you.
So I went to town and picked up a really cute cake with blue and yellow roses, her favorite colors, and took them to where she works.

All the kids, well, the closest ones, are coming for Mother's Day on Sunday. I think I will BBQ this time. Usually we have spaghetti which I know everyone loves.

I've been making up some stuff for a shop that recently opened in Victorville called Sweet Confections. They came by and got some of my quilts, aprons, totes, table runners. Tried to stop by this morning to deliver some more stuff I made and can you believe it, I couldn't find them.
I'm wondering if this was a scam to get "stuff". I certainly hope not. I know people on the sheriff's department!

Well, the prison was sold to another prison system. The shut down day is June 4th. John still doesn't know if he will keep his job or not. The assistant warden made a comment that he didn't have to worry about severance pay. I hope not. But it may mean moving to Tennessee before we had planned to. Darn the luck!

My friend, Faye, gave me her EQ5 program (quilt designing computer program) so I've been busy playing with it. So far I've designed 9 or 10 new quilts. I just wish I was better at figuring out the computer and it's uses. A friend and I are planning a book to come out hopefully before Christmas. I'll keep you posted.

Back to work on customer quilts for me!
I hope everyone has a great weekend. And Happy Mother's Day to all my friends.

Death Valley

2010-04-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

We just got back yesterday from 5 days in Pahrump, Nv and day trips to Death Valley.
This was the perfect time of year to go. Weather in Pahrump was cold and windy with a little rain thrown in to make our visit less than enjoyable but in Death Valley it was a very nice 80 degrees.
Lots of pictures. This one is of the Pup Fish. Death Valley is the only place on Earth where they live. The water they live in is extremely salty but it was the height of their breeding season.
These fish are only about 1" to 1 1/2" long and are very territorial, defending their egg laying territory and only live a couple years.

Now to get back to my quilt on the frame then a customer quilt cause I have more coming in in the next couple days.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

New quilt

2010-03-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Just had to show the quilt I designed for my greatgrand due in August. I really like it. This one I call "Ladybug Picnic". I've had it in my head for a while now and when my grand told me she was doing her baby's room in ladybugs, it was the perfect time to get it from my head to fabric.
If anyone is interested in this pattern, send me an email and I will be happy to send you a copy. I wish I knew how to do a PDF, then I could put it on here as a free giveaway.

Have a great week.

My mom

2010-03-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

Has been gone 41 years today. Everyone that still has a mom, call her today and tell her how much she means to you.

My oldest daughter called last night and asked if I was coming out to Georgia in August. My first great grandchild is due Aug 15th. I've been there for the birth of all my grands, I can't pass up my first great. Mari said it's in the "ruler book" page 148 that I'm supposed to be there. (we make up our rule books as we go)

This is one thing I got done this weekend. I've been making these quilters totes to hopefully sell. They are big enough to hold a queen size top, batting and backing to take to your longarmer, pack up all you need for retreats or take all your stuff to the gym or haul your kids off to whatever they are doing. They all have a large snap closure, ties on the sides and padded heavy duty cardboard in the bottoms for stability.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Blog giveaway

2010-03-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.piecefulkwilter.blogspot.com/

My friend, Shannon Bailey (Baker) is having a 300th post giveaway. I hope I win!! She is an awesome sewer and quilter!! Be sure to check out her blog.

New rulers

2010-02-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize it but this is my 100th post.......WHOO HOO!! I am such a blog slacker!!

Anyhow I designed some rulers several years ago and finally got around to having them cut by a professional.
The Fat Leaf ruler is the one I use for borders when I don't have any other clue what to do in them (you know.......when in doubt, stipple) These come in 3" x 6" and 4" x 7".
First I divide my border equally then use the ruler to connect the lines.
The Deep CC ruler is for deeper curves than the other rulers make. If I'm going to do CC, I want it to show and be as perfect as I can make it. (freehand is not so good)
What I especially love about these rulers is that I don't have to twist my hand around to do the top and right hand sides of the curve...........that hurts!! Good way to get Carpal Tunnel!
These will come with etched lines 1/4" apart for doing smaller curved crosshatching.
For anyone interesting in ordering a set, the smaller rulers are $12 plus shipping and the larger are $14 plus shipping. Just shoot me off an email at sharonspingler@yahoo.com

You can click on the picture for a larger image.

New contest

2010-02-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

The quilting gallery is having a new contest. Quilts made for little boys. Check it out:

Next week it's for little girls. I may have to enter that one.

Musings?

2010-02-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

My friend Shannon has linked me to her blog (bless her heart, I just love her) and if I knew how to do the same, and I knew 10 people I visit regularly, I would be happy to do the same.

Been quilting some of the quilts for (hopefully) a book my friend Dianne and I are writing. Only a couple more to go I think. Dianne already has the book written, waiting for me to finish my part so we can get the pictures taken. I'm sorry Di that I am behind but still planning to have everything done by the end of this month.

Also working on some "quilters totes" for an etsy shop that I plan on putting up. These are great bags for quilters, going to the gym, taking your kids to practices or whatever. Nice and big and roomy. I've already sold a couple to customers that come to the shop.
Now if I can just get my quilts back so that I can add them also. And finish up some UFO quilts that are still hanging around.

The weather has been fabulous here in the high desert this week. Still down in the 40's at night up low 70's during the day. I love having my doors and windows open to air the house out after a cold winter. Now to start thinking about spring cleaning. I'm going to hire my sis's grands to come help with that.

Need to start thinking of the pattern I had designed in my head. My granddaughter wants to do her baby's room in lady bugs.....and the pattern name I had in mind is perfect........"Ladybug Picnic". And yes I know it's a girl already.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Monday already!

2010-01-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a pic of the donation quilt I just finished. My mistakes stick out like sore thumbs don't they?? Oh well, this is one I guess will never get written up.

And this is something I was playing with after my machine was fixed. Feel free to use whatever you want.

Sunday ramblings

2010-01-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

http://suzanneearley.net/2010/01/suzannes-great-big-giveaway-and-sale/

My friend, Suzanne Earley that owns Knots and Bolts in Traer Iowa, is having a sale and giveaway.
Check out her blog for more information.

Went to Road to Calif yesterday and had a blast. Met up with the great people from Nolting and talked them into coming up last night and working on my machine. Dan Terrel, Gordon and the rest are just the best. It is running like a champ again and I'm busy quilting up a queen size donation quilt. Will post pics when I'm done.
This is one I designed about 10 years ago and didn't realize until I send someone a picture, that I had drafted it out wrong. You will see when I post the pic. It looks fine but apparently I need to redraft before I decide to make another one.
While at Road, I ran into gadgetgirls and just had to buy a few rulers that I have been wanting for quite some time. I love new toys!!
I also picked up a few more stencils that I thought I could play around with.

I hope everyone has a great week.

ebay shipment has arrived

2009-11-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

I ordered some new thread from ebay and it came yesterday.....SOME??? Wow, it was like Christmas!
I ordered 20 gross of bobbins in 20 different colors and 29 cones of Signature thread. ALL for $2 each!!! No way could I pass this up.
No way will I ever need thread again, especially bobbins. I think I need a bigger room!!

And this is what I did to my hoodie. I used a Sue Schmidden (sorry Sue if I spelled your name wrong) stencil and 2 top threads. Someone posted on MQR (machine quilters resourse) a quilt she did and she used 2 threads for the birds and I really like it much better than using one thread and going over it twice.

All the tote bags are done and I'm really pleased with how they all came out. Now, I just hope my guild buddy doesn't flake out on me this time.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Time to make Christmas presents

2009-11-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to make tote bags for everyone. I'm getting low on ideas.
The smaller ones I'm making for the women in my husband's office. They are made with 4 1/2" squares with a pocket on the front and one on the side. All the totes have covered heavy cardboard in the bottom for stability. I think I have 4 more to make.
The larger ones are made with 5" squares with ties on the sides if they want to make the bag smaller. These will go to my sister and my best quilting buddy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to my friend Sammi for losing her beloved Maddy.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Wednesday already?

2009-10-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy trying to get caught up on customer quilts since I took a few days off......2 to visit my daughter, 3 to help my neighbor with her moving/garage sale and 2 to go to Reno to adopt a new baby boy.........yep, that's what I told John while he was on his hunting trip. After a minute to make sure he hadn't had a coronary, I told him it was a 9 year old TAG (Timneh African Gray)
He is a beautiful, well behaved little guy that can only whistle and say "good night". I've got my work cut out for me convincing him that Timneh's are supposed to be the best talkers in birdland.
And I also got to spend quality time with my friend Sammi.

The babies, Max and Flower, love to dine out but this might be a little too much.

Quilted the 6th of 7 quilts for my Long Beach ladies today. I'm tired so that will be it for today. Back at it again tomorrow.

UFO's

2009-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

Unfinished objects! I came across a few unfinished projects while I was reclaiming my new sewing room and decided to work on them. I cut this pineapple quilt about 10 or 12 years ago and never got around to making it. I had originally planned to make it a queen size quilt but didn't have any more of the light fabric so finished it as is and will finish it and donate it to someone or something.

John and the guys left this morning at 6 for their 12 day hunting trip. Will go down Saturday and spend some time with my daughter in law and grands. I don't get to spend much time with them anymore.

We have 3 vehicles: John has an F150 and a Kia Sorento and I have a Kia Spectra. My daughter in law has had my car for almost 2 weeks while hers is in the shop for repairs, My sis has the Sorento because her Dodge truck is in the shop and John took the F150 to haul the 5th wheel.........well geeze, what about poor ole me???? So he stopped by my son's work and rented me a brand new Honda Civic. Whoo Hoo! But I need to talk to the boy about not making sure his mommy had a brand new BMW!!! That's what the company supplies him for work. Ah well!

I am going to Arizona tomorrow for 2 days to visit with my daughter. She lost her husband a few months ago and still has some really hard times. Especially when it comes to being a first time homeowner and seeing it's not all fun and games.

My oldest daughter had to be rushed to the hospital last Friday and had gall bladder surgery on Saturday and went home Sunday. I want to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

Seems like Christmas

2009-10-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Christmas came a little early for me today. My neighbors moved and decided she didn't want her room full of office furniture so she said I could have it. Whoo Hoo for me!! Still have to put my room back together but clearing out a ton of stuff tho. I already have 3 garbage bags full of stuff to donate and scaling down my books.....I'm up to 100 so far. Now to sort through all the binders.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with my ironing board. The top on it is 24" x 60".
I had a 9 foot motel dresser that I bought used 24 years ago but was so high, it was hard to sew without scrunching my shoulders which meant a lot of shoulder pain. I have to find a decent lamp of my new sewing area now.
Whoo Hoo I love free!!!!

Busy Busy

2009-09-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my Double Wedding Ring that I bought on ebay. The last one I did a gazillion feathers so I wanted to keep this one simple and did a large flower and leaves. Love it!
I also got another table runner quilted and just finished putting the binding on it. Plus I finally got around to quilting the Flip Flop quilt for one of the granddaughters.
I need to get the rest of the baby panel quilts done for the guild by next weekend. So I guess I better get even busier.

Finally finished

2009-09-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

My Disappearing 9 Patch that I started on January 30th this year. Our quilt shop sells fat quarters but not the fabric so I had to go to another quilt shop and find something compatable to use for the borders. Love the fabrics I used but not sure if I love the borders with it.
Now to finish the Double Wedding Ring so I can quilt this one up.

Another day

2009-09-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ah today is just another day!

Yesterday I started on another one of my wall hangings to get some UFO's done. It's a stained glass that I got online. Thankfully, they don't take much time.
Our quilt guild had it's show last Saturday and it was a really nice turnout. I did manage to sell a wallhanging and a table runner. Whoo Hoo! 2 more off my pile of stuff for sale. Next month is the other guilds show and they told us we could sell whatever we wanted so I am working on some small stuff, table runners and small wall hangings. Things that can be done quickly.

Then I had to go to the doctor to have yet another skin cancer removed. Lord I'm getting old and my whole body feels it.
Sunday, John and I, made our walkway a longer to make it easier to get in and out of the cars and have a place for people coming up to the door without walking in the decomposed granite.

Other than same ole, same ole, not much happening in the Spingler household.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

Loss of a friend

2009-08-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

My daughter just had to have her precious friend, Sheba Marie, of 19 years put down.
She got her at 8 weeks old and she has been her constant companion and best friend through thick and thin, the loss of her dad 6 years ago, and the abuse of a step dad. But she was always there, willing to play, chase cats and rabbits and get her belly rubbed and her "becial treats".
Since Nancy just lost her husband 6 weeks ago to illness, this is especially hard on her. I told her that Sheba has loved her unconditionally for 19 years and that it was time to love her unconditionally and have her put down.
She couldn't walk or stand. She would fall when she tried to walk and yesterday finally started going into convulsions so Nancy called the vet and took her in a day early. It was hard to have to wait the 4 days till her appointment. She had gotten that much worse just in 2 days.
She has crossed the Rainbow Bridge into a better place where she can run and play with her dad.
God bless you Sheba! I love you.
Nana

Thought you might like to see a Utube video that my granddaughter put together for Nancy and Sheba.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F519FJXryw0

Works in Progress

2009-08-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

I finished my ebay quilt but need to redo the center.....it's awful....looked great in my head but didn't turn out that way. I'm happy with the rest of it tho. This quilt only cost me $20 so I couldn't pass it up. You can click on the pics for a larger image.
Next up to finish was Sentimental Valentine (pattern from the 80's) that I started 10 years or so ago. All was done but putting the corner triangles on. Bout time I finished something!
Been a dead business since June but finally started picking up a little. So I've been working at some of my own things for a change.

Helped Joe and Lisa get moved into their new rental house. I am so glad they got out of that dump apartment. The kids need a place to get out and play, especially a 4 year old boy. You can't keep them cooped up all the time or all hell's gonna break loose.

It's been a while

2009-08-03T07:22:00.001-07:00

My daughter, Mari, and two grands, Heather and Jessica, came for a two week visit in July. Mari was supposed to be deployed in Sept but she just found out that she isn't going. I'm glad about that. We went to Imperial Beach for the sand castle competition. That was the first time in a very long time that I had all 3 of my kids and the grands together in one place. That felt good!
Then we took a trip to Knotts Berry Farm for the day. I discovered that I am way too old for all that walking around and sitting while the kids enjoyed themselves.

Last night John and I went over to help Joe and Lisa move into a rental house. I'm so glad they are out of that apartment and the kids have some place they can go out and play for a change. And it also means I don't have laundry to do anymore. Since they moved into the apartment 2 years ago and couldn't use their washer and dryer, I've been doing their laundry for the last 2 years. A lot can pile up in the course of a week with 5 people.

I need some help on this quilt. It's been on the frame for 4 days now. The customer said she wanted circles so in the 15" blocks, I've quilted circles with triangles going out to somewhat replicate one of the patterns in the print but I am totally stumped on the squares and hst that are 7" but there is a 1" flange all the way around.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Another Tink

2009-07-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

I just finished this one. Now for the binding. I did this one a little different. I decided to try the curved crosshatching ala Ronda Beyer. Thank you Ronda for the tutorial. You can click on the images to view them larger.

Tomorrow is the memorial service for my nephew. His wife sent out emails to everyone that since Greg loved Hawaii, Hawaiian shirts and shorts are to be worn.

I hope everyone has a safe and sane 4th.

Ronda Beyer class

2009-06-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

At the beautiful Pickford House B & B in Cambria, Ca on August 21st to the 23rd.
You can go to Gina Vickrey's blog at http://gina-deargina.blogspot.com/ for more information.
When you aren't having tons of fun with Ronda and Gina (and Rudy and Ginger) you can spend some time at the beach close to the B & B. My husband and I just spent our anniversary there and it's a total hoot. Gina and her husband (sweetest guy in the world) Walt, are the managers of the Inn and they will definitely show you a fabulous time.
If anyone has the time and are close enough, this is a must do.

On a sad note, my 27 year old nephew passed away Saturday night. He and his wife of 3 years were sitting watching tv and he just stopped breathing. Paramedics couldn't revive him. An preliminary autopsy didn't find anything wrong with his heart. He was the only son/child of my youngest sister in law. I can't imagine the hell she is going through right now but my heart and all the prayers I can muster go out to her.

A big thank you

2009-06-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

To Gina and Walt for the fabulous anniversary vacation last weekend. Our 36th anniversary was the 9th so we went over to the beautiful coastal town of Cambria on the 6th to stay in their fabulous B & B called the Pickford House. If you have the chance to go over to the coast, staying with Gina and Walt is a must do! I've known Gina for quite a few years but finally had the chance to meet Walt. He is kind, gracious and attentive.
We got to go to the beach a few miles from the Inn. I discovered I'm getting to old to walk in the sand. Then that evening we all went to Pismo Beach to watch the sun set and look for collectables......sand dollars and shells.
It's a vacation I will never forget. A big thank you and hugs all around to Gina and Walt.

My daughters step daughter in law called and asked if I would make quilts for her 2 little ones. The boy is 3 and the girl is 18 months. She wanted Tinkerbell for the girl and cammy for the little boy since their dad is in the Army (due home Saturday for a weeks stay from Iraq) So yesterday morning I enlarged Tink and designed a wholecloth for her and got it quilted. I used flannel backed satin for the top and flannel for the back. I think it came out pretty awesome. Now I have to go shopping for some cammy.

Finally a panto!!

2009-06-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am so tired of custom quilts!! It feels so good to get a brainless panto once in a while. The only hard part for me is deciding which one to do.
Sorry, I should have added that this one is done. It's for this woman's friend, a woman, so I did an old panto that looks like a tulip.
This is the last quilt I have to do before going to visit my friend, Gina, who has graciously invited us to Cambria for our anniversary. We leave here first thing Saturday morning and come home Wednesday, the 10th. However, I have to deliver a quilt tomorrow and meet with a potential new customer.

BOM

2009-06-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Stands for block of the month. Our quilt guild has a BOM every month. There is a person in charge of what block we do and what fabrics. She makes up a kit for each block and cuts all or part of the block and any one that wants to make one, takes it home and brings it back the following month. Tickets are sold and a winner is picked to receive the blocks that were made. I happened to win these blocks. There were 20 of them but I was only able to use 12 because some were so poorly done that I was unable to use them all. So this is what I came up with. I finished the last of the borders this morning then I will quilt it and offer it as a donation or raffle quilt at the next meeting.
I like it but it's just not me!

My oldest daughter is in the Army and being deployed in Sept so is planning on coming home in July to visit before she has to go. Thankfully it's only for 6 months and since she is a nurse, it's unlikely she will be in a hot zone. I knew as soon as she said she was going back in that the chances were pretty high that she would go, but I still hate to see it coming.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Snuggle quilt

2009-05-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

I used some of the left over blocks to make this snuggle quilt for my daughter......the one I made the king sized quilt for. And I still have 69 blocks leftover!!!

Busy weekend

2009-05-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend I managed to finally get the bindings on 3 wallhangings and my daughters king size quilt. On hers, I used a 4 oz poly batt because it seems neither of my daughters can keep warm. I still have plenty of blocks left over so I am going to make her a snuggle quilt for the couch. I am going to get started on that one today.

In the last post, I posted a selvege (I know I spelled that wrong) purse that I made and didn't like so I made a new one. This one I like.

I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day.

Wednesday

2009-05-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

I have been busy this last week working on my Dresden Plate. It is 116" square with 25 plates, 25 blades in each plate. Now for the binding.

I also almost finished my new purse. I was able to find the cotton clothes line rope with the poly core at Ace hardware in Arizona while visiting my daughter. I used some of the selvages I've been saving. Now to come up with some kind of closure.

I hope everyone has a great week.

New yard update

2009-04-23T14:29:00.001-07:00

The crew just finished my front yard and I am so pleased with it.

On the quilting front, I've had a severe case of lazy the last 3 days and haven't sewn or quilted a thing. I need to get my rear in gear and do something.......even if it's wrong.

New yard

2009-04-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

Since we live in the high desert of California, we get really high winds which blow in from the west.....and our house faces the west. We have a ball park across the street and they are supposed to start building a middle school there in October. Our front yard was gravel with 3 trees. Because of the winds, our yard was always covered in sand. Looked really tacky all the time no matter what we did.
Last week we had a crew come in and take down all the trees which left a bigger mess than we started with and they are back today to start my landscaping. Today they have the tractor and are stripping it down to nothing, then will come back with golf course sand and put in a dry river bed, 6 desert plants and some curbing to contain the sand. He assures me it will look awesome.

This is what we started with.

And this is what we ended with.

I will post pics of my fabulous new
yard in a week.

Rose of Sharon is done!!

2009-04-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

Whoo hoo!! And it only took 2 full days! I figured on at least 4.

It's coming along!

2009-04-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

My daughters quilt that is. I only have 2 more rows to put together on each side then borders, quilting, binding yadda yadda yadda. I really love this quilt. She saw a quilt she liked that was all mostly white with light green and lavender prints but just squares and it had a scalloped border. Will I do the scalloped border........hmmm maybe not.
This one is all done with 6" squares......HST (half square triangles), squares, rail fences, 9 patches, 4 patches, 3 patches and an 18" crazy quilt center square.

And I'm happy to say I am on the last row of the Rose of Sharon quilt!! Will post pics tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Rose of Sharon

2009-04-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

I have this quilt coming up next and have no ideas what to do with it. I looked on webshots and there isn't anything there. Anybody have any bright ideas??

Happy Friday

2009-04-10T06:58:00.001-07:00

I finally finished putting the borders on
this King Sized Dresden Plate. It measures 116" square. Now to come up with some awesome quilting ideas for it. The outside border is 11" and I have something in mind but I will have to enlarge it and see if I can make it work. I'm also considering a couple throw pillows to go with it.
Still trying to get another animal quilt done for a customer. It's a lot harder working with this new machine. I've been quilting for almost 12 years and never had a stitch regulator and I'm having trouble figuring out the best speed for the non stitch regulator mode. On the old machine, I knew exactly what number to use for what I was doing. I hate learning curves. I have to learn everything all over again.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thursday already??

2009-04-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

Where is the time going?? I don't seem to have enough hours in my days anymore...or is it just that I'm getting old?

I started on this quilt for my youngest daughter. She wanted all purples and greens. The one she saw that she liked was all pastel squares with a scalloped border. This is everything that equals 6" finished......squares, half square triangles, 3 patches, 4 patches, 9 patches and rail fences. The center is an 18" crazy quilt block. I think it's going to be awesome when it's done.......and it's a king!

I belong to a sewing and quilting for sale group on yahoo and one of the girls outside Los Angeles posted that she had 4000 yard cones of over 60 colors of thread for sale that she bought from a warehouse that went out of business. I emailed her and she sent me pics of what she had. The thread is 60 cents each and black and white for 1.60 each. WOW what a deal. So I ordered 39 cones. It came today and I have to tell you, I am impressed. A couple of the colors are really close in shades but that's ok, for the price, you can't beat it. I will have to put in another order real soon.
I sent her an email letting her know that I got it ok and would it be ok if I spread the word. She said she had multiple cones of each color so anyone that wants, I can give you her email so you can also place an order. I swear, this thread is almost identical to So Fine. I'm using a cone on the quilt I am working on and it is fabulous.
All the thread is in it's original shrink wrap.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

"Love Grows Here"

2009-03-14T15:49:00.001-07:00

Is finally done!! Since I inadvertantly
misnamed the last quilt, Love in Bloom, I had to design another pattern with this name, Love Grows Here. I was putting the patterns in the envelopes when I noticed something wrong. I had named the other one the wrong name!!
Now to write up the directions and get it going.

I've been absent from blogland because #1 I've been busy with the baby quilts for Angels in Waiting and #2 I lead a very boring life.
Last Saturday was our quilt guild meeting and I turned in all 18 receiving blankets and 9 quilts.
I wish there were some way we could do a fund raiser for Angels in Waiting. I saw the founder, Linda, with Gloria Allred (sp) on tv talking about the octuplets again. There was a financial statement that said the orginization has $3000 in savings and $600 in assets. That's pitiful!

At Road to Calif in January, I traded my work horse Nolting long arm for a brand new Nolting Pro24 and I have to admit, I really wish I had kept the old one. I've had so much trouble with this one.....needles breaking, thread constantly breaking, picky with threads, inconsistant stitching, needle up/down doesn't want to work right, going through so many needles, needle down won't go down all the way.....and I've never seen so much lint in my 12 years of longarming!! I'm losing my reputation as a good longarmer and I'm having to give sizeable discounts.........I hate that! Next time I get what I think is a good idea, someone please kick me!!!

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day everyone!
I hope everyone's day is full of sweet things.

On another note: I have designed another baby quilt this week. I hope you all like it as much as I do. A very special thank you to Gina Vickrey, Sammi Brown and Diane Reichle for helping name this one. And especially to Gina for the winning name of "Love Grows Here". She will get the very first pattern.....when it's done.
And a thank you to Sammi for nudging me into coming up with another pattern for the runner up name of "Love in Bloom". I'll give you all more information on that one once I find the fabrics I want to work with.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Star Light

2009-02-10T16:45:00.001-08:00

This is my newest design. I am calling it "Star Light".
I love designing baby quilts. So cute......and so small.
I have another one in my head (and it didn't get lost or anything) that I need to get started on as soon as I find just the right fabrics for it. I know I want it in soft pinks and greens.

I have this one all written up. Just need to put the binding on and take a pic and it will be ready. Probably Friday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

2009-02-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

http://suzanneearley.net/

Our own Suzanne Earley is having a giveaway!! Check her out.
We had an awesome party last night on MQR (machine quilters resource) to celebrate our 2000th member sign up. There was a total of 101 online at one time and 42 in our chat room. Whoo Hoo!! Beats our number of 54 at once.
Suzanne is having a drawing today for all the prizes that were donated. That should be a lot of fun.
If any of you that read my blog, please check out MQResource. It's a fabulous group of very talented and gifted longarmers.

Ty Pennington

2009-01-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

Extreme Home Makeover is here in the high desert this week doing a makeover. My son just called and said that their plane just landed (he is a refueler for MillionAir) and he loaded their stuff onto their truck and was escorting them off base. It was Ty and Paulie!!
Of all the luck........wish he could have called and let me know they were coming in. I could have gone over and introduced myself and let them know that I do longarm quilting!!!

Dresden

2009-01-27T08:04:00.001-08:00

This is one I did yesterday. This is a customers gift to her sister named Rose, so I had to design a rose to put in the 4 corners. Then I carried out the theme by doing a leaf, swirl in the sashings and border. I really really love my stitch regulator!!!!

I really like the way this one turned out. I'll have to remember the pattern for my Dresden Plate......if I ever get it done! I only need 4 more blocks. I thought I had enough but I didn't.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Double Wedding Ring

2009-01-23T09:45:00.001-08:00

Is done!! And it only took me 6 days. Maybe on the next one, I'll do something that doesn't take so long in the big background.
The last row of melons took me over an hour. It was so puckered, I took some of the seams apart and scooched them over till they laid flat. It's FLAT now by golly!

These are pics showing the before and after easing the fullness.

New quilts

2009-01-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

My civil war Austin block quilt is finally on the bed with it's matching pillow cases. Bout time!!
Now I have an ebay double wedding ring on that I'm quilting for my sis. It has some issues but I have learned one thing. Instead of making pleats where the fabric is waving, I am taking the seam apart and moving it folded edge to where it lays flat then edge stitching it on the long arm. Much neater.
I have to give a big thank you to Suzanne Earley for all the great advise on feathering. It is so much nicer doing it her way.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Memory quilts

2009-01-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take the time to mention that my sis has started a new venture. They bought all the equipment to do silk screening and memory photos.
The process they use isn't like running our fabric through our personal printer. They use special ink and a printer specifically designed to use the ink through to the fabric to make the picture a part of the fabric. The pictures are much sharper and will not fade or wash out. Pictures can also be scanned and cleaned up for a better image.
If anyone is interested in the process, you can send me an email and we can go over more of the process and prices.
sharonspingler@yahoo.com

Austin Block

2009-01-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

Civil War quilt is finally quilted. Now to put the binding on and make the pillow cases.
Next up is a double wedding ring I got from ebay for my sis.

This is the border treatment I started using and love. It's a scallop without really being a scallop. I divide the border and chalk my lines then use my leaf shape ruler to do the scallops. Easy and looks good.

Going to Road to California this Saturday then on to M & L, a discount fabric store in Anaheim. LOVE that store.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

Fiesta de los Muertos

2009-01-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

Feast of the Dead! This is about the ugliest quilt I have ever done but that's what the boy wanted his grandma to make for him. Thankfully I did a panto so I wouldn't have to look at it so much.
The center is fine......it's the borders I don't like.

Well, I should have my thread tomorrow. My machine loves Arc thread and I love the effect it gives. Some colors take on the color of the fabric it is on. And it's great in the bobbin. Doesn't break like Bottom Line.

My daughter, Nancy, is coming down tomorrow and has asked me to make "becial cookies". Her special cookies are sugar cookies with home make frosting. So I guess I better get busy.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Beware

2009-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

On November 23rd I ordered 17 5000M cones of Arc thread from a woman in Pennsylvania. I sent her a check for $84.78 because I don't have a paypal account. She cashed my check and sent an email saying it was shipped on Dec 14th.
After a week I hadn't heard anything so I sent her a message asking for a tracking number. I hadn't heard from her so after 2 weeks I sent another message asking for a tracking number or could she please resend using UPS. I got a message on Saturday that she would reship on Monday using FedEx and would send me the tracking number. I never heard from her again so last week I sent her a message saying that if I didn't receive my order by Monday I would have no recourse than to file a complaint with the postmaster general for interstate mail fraud. I also filed a complaint with the sheriff's department. The deputy tried to call her but got no answer.
I would love to have the thread. 17 cones of Arc will last me a really long time and at $4 a cone, can't be beat. But at this point I won't accept anything less than a money order.
2 of the other girls on our online group also ordered the same time I did and haven't gotten anything from her either but they paid with paypal so they can get their money back.
I advise anyone that reads this to NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS WOMAN.

I GOT A TRACKING NUMBER!!!!! Should have it tomorrow by close of business

This weeks work

2008-12-31T07:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!! Yep today is my birthday. This will be the last one cause I don't want to be 60!!

Anyhow this is what I've been doing. The lady that makes all the animal panel quilts and this one wants lots of quilting and it takes as long if not longer than custom so I went halfway between freehand and custom for her charges. I really hate doing these quilts.

These other pics are of baby quilts I made for Angels in Waiting. A group of nurses that take fragile babies to care for.

I have to get the boys quilt quilted today and the binding because our guild's meeting is Saturday. I've done 8 receiving blankets also but I need to get my serger rethreaded so I can make up the rest of them.

I hope everyone has a great holiday.

Monday

2008-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

Last night John had leftover soup for dinner and he didn't give Tazzie any of the noodles....which she loves.......so she invited herself to join him.
She is so much fun but needs to have her wings clipped again. She insists on visiting when we are in the kitchen or I'm in the studio. She has discovered the pens sitting on my desk and throws them on the flooring saying "Uh Oh Crash".

Our snow is melting but we have a lot left. Now rain is in the forecast. The sky is dark and cloudy so we may just get some.

Got all my presents wrapped this morning. The kids will be over later and I didn't want to have to cover them again. Anyhow, just one more task out of the way.
I still have one of my own quilts to finish as a Christmas present then I have the 3 that came in the other day. She said, "no hurry" on them. But 2 of the women are in their 80's so I think I better get started on them.
Still working on quilts for Angels in Waiting. I have 4 tops done so far and 8 receiving blankets done. Still have a lot more receiving blankets to cut and serge......if I can get my serger to work properly.

John took the folios in for the ladies that work with him. I did one large and one small for each of the 4 of them. Today is cookie making day for them also which he will take in Wednesday.

Hope everyone has a fabulous week.

Kids and snow

2008-12-17T12:05:00.001-08:00

It's been snowing for 5 hours and we've gotten about 5" of snow. Since my son and his family moved into an apartment in town, they decided to come out here and play in the snow. The one in the pink jacket is 8 yr old April Rose, the one behind her is 9 yr old Jessica Dawn and of course the other one is Lil Man, aka John Patrick.
Had to go to the hardware store and picked up some gloves for the girls. At least they had a little protection for their little hands.
But they had a ball and that's what counts with kids and snow.

Can you stand another picture of our snow?
This one was taken out our front door around 4pm and it's been snowing like crazy since 7 am. Said it's supposed to keep it up till 6 am tomorrow.
Looks like John won't be going to work tomorrow.

SNOW

2008-12-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

We gots it!!

This is the view out my studio door. And it's only been snowing for an hour.

And this is a view looking north out my front door.
I love seeing snow fall........as long as I don't have to go out in it.
I know some people say "Big Deal!!" but it is to us since we only get snow maybe once every 3 or 4 years.

I plan to have a gift sewing day since I am done with customer Christmas quilts. And I'll be warm and snug in the house.

Have a fabulous day everyone.

Peacock done

2008-12-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

And it only took me 3 days!! Then I had to put the binding on it.
I love the way it turned out but couldn't understand why the feathers on the right didn't work out the same as the left side. After I took the pic, I noticed that the flower groupings are higher on the right than the left. And the ones in the corners aren't exactly pointing right which threw off my hearts.

I thought I had just finished the last customer quilt then a friend/customer called and wanted to know if she could bring one over for a Christmas present for her husband. I said sure, why not. So I am finishing that one up now. It's a simple stack n whack put together a whole different way. I really like it and since she is a good friend, I'm going out of my way on this one. It has a leafy fabric for the filler triangles so I am doing Kim S's Just Leaf It kind of idea on it. I will have to use this again!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Fun filled Saturday

2008-12-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

I joined a quilt guild in Lake Arrowhead (near Big Bear Lake, tourist area mostly) a few months ago at the urging of a friend.
They meet the first Saturday of the month and today was our Christmas exchange and pot luck.
We were asked by a nurse that founded an organization called "Angels in Waiting" if we would be interested in donating baby quilts. The quilts will be for "fragile babies". Babies born addicted to drugs or alcohol or anything else that would make them "fragile".
Of course I immediately jumped on it. There was an article in a local paper of the newest addition, the most beautiful little 6 month old angel you ever saw.

If anyone that reads this is interested in helping out, I would be more than happy to take whatever baby quilts and receiving blankets you want to donate to our meetings. I know they will be appreciated.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend.

New quilting site

2008-11-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.allourquilts.com/

This one is up and running and seems like a great site to join. Check it out!

John just left for Ontario Airport to pick up his sis who is visiting for Thanksgiving. They live in Houma, Louisiana so we don't get to visit very often. We did stop by there in May and got to take them to the zoo in New Orleans. They have an amazing zoo there.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

My new favorite and a visitor

2008-11-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

This is my new favorite border treatment.
I draw lines every 2" apart......most borders will allow you to do this.....then I use the leaf template sitting there to quilt lines....sometimes I will add a smaller one inside these lines.

And I just had my favorite visitor. I think this one is the male because I didn't see a tag on his leg. The female has one. He came to visit right after I fed the outside birds......guess he was looking for a meal too because all the other ones took off.

Friday again!

2008-11-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

Mark got his quilt yesterday. His boss wouldn't let him take off to test it out. He did last night tho and said it was nice and warm. Good thing, he said tonight it's supposed to get down to 16 degrees. That's cold in anybodies book!!

Did a massive quilt for a very sweet customer. She wanted her son's name on it but not so that he could see it. It's the new French Braid but done in squares and rectangles and all batiks. So I wrote his name and 2008 in one of the braids on the top corner. And believe it or not but I spelled his name wrong. I put Telli and it's supposed to be Terri. I thought I wrote it as she spelled it but I guess I didn't hear right. She is coming over today and should take me 5 min to do a partial reload and redo his name.

I joined a quilt guild with a friend and I volunteered to quilt a lap quilt for them. Had to find a piece of fabric big enough for the backing then I can get started on it after I finish with the reload.

Have a couple quilts coming next week that are huge but they will be done either with a panto or freehand. Then maybe I can work on something for Christmas gifts.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Wednesday's quilt

2008-11-19T11:14:00.001-08:00

This is Libby's quilt. Have no idea if it has a name or her own design. She wanted simple and cheap. Should have done a leaf panto on it but since I had the time and the inclination, I decided to do something different. I did CC's (continuous curves) all over but after watching Tracey Browning's video, decided
to do a little extra in the large blocks to add more quilting to it.
Thank you Tracey.

Just Can't Cut It done

2008-11-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

Finally got the binding finished on my brothers quilt. Now I can ship it off today. Going to go out and look in my stash to see if I have enough flannel to make pillow cases. Too bad my serger doesn't work so I can clean up the edges and make it faster to put together.
This isn't the prettiest quilt I've ever done, although I do like it, but it will certainly keep him warm on those cold Ohio nights. I used all the plaid flannels from my stash and 3 pieces for the backing with a Simplicity Air batting.

Friday again already??

2008-11-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

Where does time go?? It's going by so fast I feel I'm missing something.
I finally got my brother's quilt top done. It's certainly nothing to jump up and down about but it's manly plaid flannels front and back and I'm going to use a nice thick batting. He lives in Ohio and it's already cold there so I better hurry and get it done.

Not much new going on around here. Temps are low at night and mid 60's during the day.
Quilting has picked up so I think we can start putting some money away for Christmas.
Went to M and L (discount fabric store in Buena Park) Got 11 1 yd pieces of 30's, a couple yards of a cute pastel pillow panel fabric and enough of 2 soft greens to finish the king sized double wedding ring quilts I bought off ebay. I am going to give one to my sis and keep the other one. I couldn't pass them up. One was 39.99 and the other was 29.99. No way I can make one for that.
I've made a couple for customers but have never made one for myself. I guess I can't afford me!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Friday

2008-10-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

It seems like it's been a very long week.
Went and picked up Lil Man (3 yr old grandson) yesterday afternoon. Lisa is sick (stress I think) so I offered to keep the little terrorist for a couple days. He has been such a joy to have. He has been helping me around the house, cooking, cleaning and being my little gofer.

Tomorrow I get to go to M and L in Buena Park. For anyone that isn't familiar with M and L, it's a discount fabric store that is in an old grocery store. The most expensive fabric they have is only 7.99. Moda has gone up to 3.98 from 2.69 and all flatfolds (stacked 6' high) are 1.69 from 1.50. Batiks are all 3.69. I only get to go once a year so I really stock up every time.

I had a big surprise the other day. I got an email from my youngest brother, Mark. I hadn't heard from him for about 22 years. There were 7 of us kids and there is only me, Mark and my younger brother Ed left. I really miss having family so it was the thrill of a lifetime hearing from him. Now if I can just find the other one! Everyone needs someone they can call family.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

AND THE WINNER IS::

2008-10-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

This one was hard because 2 people came up with it so I'm choosing both. Michelle and Sammi for "Xcellent"
Michelle, if you will pm me I will finish drafting this up and get it to you.
This quilt finishes at 56" square.
Congratulaltions to both of you.

Hopping Mad!!

2008-10-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

I joined an online quilt group because a member said it was a fantastic group. Well I found out today that they aren't.
Someone posted about seeing a quilt or a pattern and copying it......is this ok or stealing? IT'S STEALING!!! No matter how you look at it, it's theft! All but one person told her "sure go ahead and do whatever you want. Once it's out for the public to see, you can do whatever you want" BULL!!
Even quilt magazines, and I'm sure other craft mags are the same, there is a blurp in the front that states that the patterns belong to them. You may make a quilt for yourself, a friend or a gift....that's it.
Patterns all tell you up front that they are an original design and not to be copied without written permission from the designer.
If you see a quilt at a show, or whatever, you can not copy it!!!
And to think that I put my ORIGINAL patterns out there, either on my blog or on an internet group.......how many people are actually honest and abide by the rules?? I can honestly say that all my patterns are original or I change the heck out of something before I call it mine. Just changing the fabric does not make it "your original".
How many magazines or books do we open and see an old tried and true pattern made up (new fabric) and it says "designed by so and so"? A lot!
It just makes me so angry that people just don't care if they take money right out of someone elses pocket. As designers, we have to pay to print the patterns, market them, pay taxes etc not to mention the money spent on the fabric, batting, backing, time involved to make the quilt or whatever and the time to draft it out and everything else that goes into it.
Ok I'll step off my soapbox but you can bet your bottom dollar that I dropped out of that group and deleted everything I did or said.

Quilty name

2008-10-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.thequiltingpost.com/QuiltyNames.htm

Mine is Tsarina, Quilt Shop Explorer.

John left for his 11 day hunting trip yesterday morning. I am so enjoying all the peace and quiet.
Working on a really large oriental quilt right now. I really hate working with black. It tends to attract anything floating in the air. And it's hard on these poor old eyes to see black on black.
Here is a small sampling.

I drew out several ideas inbetween the arcs but settled on feathers. I got a new chalk at Joann's and love it. It was in the quilting section and comes with a holder, several white very thin white chalks and several colored chalks. I am loving it. Easy to see and easy to remove. It's called Dritz Chalk Cartridge Set.

Well, Mari is at Ft. Benning Georgia today trying to get all her paper work done and get signed up for housing. Then she goes home for the weekend and pick up her 13 yr old then back to Georgia on Monday. I hope things go smoothly for her.

Have a great weekend.

Another idea

2008-10-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

I doodled on my vacation. This is one idea I came up with so stopped by the quilt shop Saturday and picked up a Jelly Roll with Moda batiks and a couple pieces for borders and sashing.
I think I will hold a contest for this one. Anyone that comes up with a name will get the pattern. How does that sound?

Have a great week everyone.

Sign up

2008-10-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

And pass the word to all women you know.
armyofwomen.com
They are looking for one million to join. It's for research to find out what causes breast cancer. Why do healthy women get it, what causes some women to get it if they have a family history and some not. Did you know that men get it too.....my nephew had it when he was in his early 30's.
Please sign up........I think it's worth our time if we can keep one more woman from this.

Flag

2008-10-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I decided to quilt this up for Mari and put the Army caduceas in the blue. I printed out the pic from the front of my shirt and enlarged it for this. I used gold Arc thread on the top and gold Maxi loc in the bottom.

Pretty quilt

2008-09-29T08:09:00.001-07:00

This quilt was done by a good customer named Nancy B. Unfortunately it had a damask backing that was cut really crooked......I mean up to 2 1/2 feet on one side and 10" on the other. And I had tons of pokies. I did a quilt before and one after and not one single pokie!! Must have been the poly in it. But the top turned out awesome.
I still have some work to do on my feathers, especially the inside of circles, but they are better than they were.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Another pic of Lt. Allen

2008-09-26T08:58:00.002-07:00

Here are more pics of my daughter. I am so proud of her.

Got a call from her last night at 9 pm our time..11 pm their time. Her best, and probably only, friend, Robyn, lost her very short battle with pancreatic cancer. I feel so helpless because there is nothing I can say to help her hurt. And on top of that, she has had a migraine since Tuesday.
And she still had to get up this morning for classes. I feel for her.

I hope everyone has a pleasant weekend.

Honey........I'm home!!

2008-09-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just got back this evening from a week in San Antonio, Texas.
Our oldest daughter graduated from OCS (officer candidate school) on the 19th. The nurses still have 2 more weeks of training then she will be stationed at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
This is a picture of her daddy giving her the first salute as a 1st. Lieutenant in the Army.
It was awfully hard to leave her to come home. I miss her terribly, her being so far away all these years. I only get to see her once a year, if I'm lucky.
While there, we took her to some caverns not too far from Ft. Sam Houston where she is in school.
But the most important thing is we got to spend time with her.

But I'm also glad to be home with the "kids".

Tuesday!

2008-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Time sure is going by rapidly!
The granddaughters start back to school today.
My oldest granddaughter started college last Wednesday.
AND I LEAVE FOR TEXAS THE 17TH FOR MARI'S GRADUATION FROM OBS!!

John came home Friday trying his best not to have a shit eating grin on his face.
He asked me how would I feel about driving to San Antonio. YOU BETCHA!!!
We didn't know there would be a first graduation. We thought it was in the middle of October.
Which meant, the day he came home from his hunting trip he would have to, dump the trailer, take a shower, change clothes, grab another suitcase and get back on the road to drive straight through all 1300 miles. No can do!! So he gets to be the first one to salute her. She was feeling horrible because no one was going to be there for her. Everyone was talking about all the family and friends that were going to be there and poor Mari had no one. Well, now she will!!

Yesterday I got bindings put on the 2 fall tablerunners, the Dancing Daisies and my sis's "leave me alone" quilt. Today I finally got the binding put on the Tennessee Walking Horses quilt.
I have been invited to go to a quilt guild meeting on Saturday. One of my best customers has had rave reviews on the quilting I've done for her and they wanted to meet me and see a show and tell. Whoo Hoo.
I also got my Civil War "Austin Block" quilt top done. I was going to use the bonus HST for the middle border but couldn't make it fit so took it back off and just a straight border. Now to decide whether I want to do custom or a panto. Probably custom since it's for me.

I hope everyone has a fabulous week.